Merrillville, Indiana
This story is all too familiar for an insured incurring hailstorm damage. Castleton Manor Apartments in Indianapolis, Indiana, found itself in an “insurance adjusting nightmare” better known as “Insurance Catch-22” when several of its apartment buildings suffered damage to roofs due to a hailstorm.
Consider the facts: Several years earlier, Castleton suffered damage to the roofs as a result of a hailstorm. The insurance company retained an independent adjuster, which retained an engineer, which issued a report that stated that the damage to the roofs as a result of the hailstorm was not enough to warrant roof replacement and the carrier would only pay for downspouts and gutters.
A couple of years later, Castleton again was hit by a hailstorm. This time the insured hired an independent adjuster which hired an engineer which reported that the insurance company did not have to reimburse the insured for this loss, because the damage was caused by a previous storm!
So, here was an insured that had its previous claim limited for insufficient damage and the current claim denied as a result of the damage being caused from a previous loss that was limited. Sounds like “Catch-22?”
In a quandary, the insured retained the Alex N. Sill Company, the nation’s leading public insurance claims adjusting firm and loss consultant with offices, among other places, in Indianapolis. Sill’s expert claims adjuster re-educated the carrier so that it understood that there was liability on its part . . . either for the first loss or the second. The result: a significant insurance recovery allowing the insured to replace the roofs.
As stated by the Executive Vice President of Equity Property Management (owners of the Castleton Apartments):
“When faced with extensive damage to the majority of our roofs at one Indianapolis location we were rebuffed by the insurance carrier, their adjusters and engineering consultants following two distinct yet successive claims for damages to the same roofs. Without Alex N. Sill Company’s assistance, and in particular the work of your Executive General Adjuster, we would not have successfully resolved the claim and obtained a settlement in an amount that allowed EPM to make the repairs in a proper manner.”
Kevin J. Donohoe, Executive Vice President